Sebastian Vettel expects a number of pit stops to be required during the Spanish Grand Prix due to high track temperatures.

Temperatures on the track surface touched 44C during Friday's practice sessions and lead to a number of cars running off-track in FP2. While insisting he was happy with the way Red Bull's schedule had gone, Vettel said that the track conditions would make the race difficult for the drivers to preserve their tyres.

"It wasn't too bad today - there's a lot of stuff for us to go through," Vettel said. "We had a few new parts to try, which is not that unusual for Barcelona. I'm pretty happy; we did a lot of laps and got through the programme well.

"The wind played a role today, you could see some cars going off the track and the asphalt temperatures can go high here which makes the car slide. It's similar here to last year and it's likely we will see a few stops on Sunday during the race."

With his team-mate Mark Webber having hinted that drivers may sit out Q3 in order to save tyres, Vettel admitted that the race would have to take precedence but said that Red Bull is one of the teams that always goes out in search of pole position.

"Most important is points and points you get on Sunday. I know the reason we go out on Saturday is to qualify as high as we can, ideally to get pole, so nothing has changed but we have seen that during the race there's a lot of things happening with the tyres; where you start on Sunday does not automatically mean that is the position you will finish."